You Don't Need A Sense of Sight to Dance in the Moonlight
by hankpym
Summary: AU. Mimi Marquez always feared what she couldn't see. She couldn't see anything. Rated for swears.


**A/N**: So I got this idea from a list of AU prompts off tumblr and this one seemed really interesting to write: _muse A is blind and falls in love with the sound of muse B's voice. _I was really eager to write this and out of all my Rent, which is my current obsession, ships, this prompt seemed to fit Roger/Mimi the best. (I suppose Joanne could be a blind lawyer but, that's too Daredevil-esque, and Maureen couldn't be the blind one. How could she flirt if she couldn't even see what people looked like!) Still trying to decide whether I'm still keeping the HIV/AIDS aspect for Roger, Angel and Collins but that's not too essential to the story yet(I don't think I'll give Mimi HIV because wow, I can't make her blind and dying!) This will have some elements and scenes from the movie/musical but, overall, things will be _quite _different.

Disclaimer: If anyone is a little ooc, apologize in advance. This is my first Rent fic-and of course it's an AU. Smart thinking me. I don't own Rent.

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Standing on her tiptoes, her left leg raised high off the ground and one hand in the air, Mimi Marquez felt alive. For the first time in her nineteen young years, she felt strangely perfect. It was warm outside, here on the roof of her apartment building with only her ballet tutu on. It was rare that she took this out, but she needed it. She always needed it when she felt especially weak. With all that was going on lately, too suddenly and out of her control, she couldn't help but feel weak.

She stopped moving when she heard a paper flutter through the air. She remained still, stuck in that position with her leg up, until she heard the barely audible sound of paper landing on cement. Standing upright, she moved toward that paper, grabbing it for dear life and pressing it to her chest. If only...

Mimi moved quickly, holding onto the wall, feeling around until she felt the cold of the doorknob on her fingertips. She turned it, listening carefully to the sound it made, and went into the building. Down five flights, turn to the right, and her door was the first one there. It was unlocked, she didn't have much of anything to worry about. No job meant no money, and no money meant all she had was hand-me down furniture from her landlord's wife and one special beanbag chair that her best friend bought her.

She stepped quickly, not normally having to worry about anything being on the floor. She was taken by surprise, though, when she felt something under her foot, but it was too late. Her blank eyes went wide and she flailed her arms out in front of her—too surprised to remember how she was supposed to break her fall.

She hit the ground with a soft thud, but didn't really pay attention to that. She heard the sound of a guitar, of strumming. A string of sad words, sung by a beautiful voice. What was that beautiful voice? And why was he so sad? She was mesmerized by that voice, and for a second she felt her breath hitch.

"Hello!" Mimi called out, sitting up. She frightened herself, wrapping her arms around and hugging her knees. For the first time in forever, Mimi Marquez felt fear. She was afraid of what she could not see.

She could not see anything.

She heard footsteps, and her heartbeat quickened. She moved her eyes frantically, helplessly, as if this could suddenly will her to see something besides darkness. The footsteps stopped when she felt the presence of another in her living room/kitchen. She closed her eyes and braced herself.

"Who are you?" It was the sad singer, speaking softly. He seemed to know already.

"The resident of this apartment," she responded, wanting to get this over with quickly.

" He stopped short and she knew why. She had opened her eyes, and it startled him. She knew it would, that's why she did it. Whenever she was in trouble, she could always rely on her pale, milky eyes to get her out of a tough spot.

He started to stutter, then, and Mimi felt a bit of déjà vu. This happened to her too many times before...

Hitting a sudden realization, she closed her eyes yet again. "Sorry. I must've only gone four flights instead of five... my apartment is downstairs." She stood up slowly, her head turned in what she hoped was his direction. She put in arm out in front of her, her other hand still pressing the sheet of paper against her chest.

"Do you need help?" She heard him step towards her, then felt a hand taking her own. It was large, calloused, probably from guitar playing. "Cold hands," he told her in a low voice.

She nodded, squeezing his hand. "Yours, too." She let herself calm down, feeling relaxed all of a sudden. Safe. "Big. Like my father's."

It was strange, only dancing ever made her feel like this. Only the tap of her foot on the ground made her feel safe.

"Do you wanna dance?" She asked, suddenly. She never asked anyone to dance with her before.

"With you?" He sounded almost startled.

She felt herself smile. "No," she said quickly, "with my father."

He laughed, starting low but rising. It sounded so whole and pure, she fell in love with it. She wanted to laugh so truly. He stopped walking, possibly turning to face her.

"I'm Roger."

She grinned, all of her teeth showing. "They call me... _Mimi_."

He tugged on her hand and they got up to the door.

"Can you tell me what this says?" She stopped walking suddenly, pushing the sheet of paper towards him. He turned the doorknob, and stood in the doorway, taking the paper out of her hands.

"Shit." He tried to whisper it, probably thinking her ears were as delicate as her eyes, but he was wrong. She heard him loud and clear, and put a hand on his arm.

"What is it?"

"Eviction notice," he told her, grimacing a little. "That _bastard_." He took her hand and pulled her out the door, towards the staircase. "Come with me."

Mimi nodded, but she was suddenly feeling the urge to break away from his strong hold on her wrist and break into a dance. The two of them started down the stairs and didn't stop until they were out the building. The breeze was strong, and Mimi felt herself shiver. Roger wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close. "Benny!"

Benny. That sounded familiar to her, but why?

"Good to see you nice and recovered, Rog," came the tense response. She recognized that voice. It was... "I see you've met Mariah."

Mimi squeezed on Roger's bicep, furrowing her eyebrows. "The landlord!" She exclaimed suddenly, waving an arm in front of her until she found Benny, pulling on his coat. "Tell your wife—"

"You know Muffy?" Roger asked, speaking over her.

Mimi glared at darkness. "Tell _Allison_ I said thank you for the table. And for putting cushions on everything for me," Mimi continued, smiling at nothing as she thought of it. Allison was super pretentious and completely obnoxious, but she was nice to Mimi. Or, at least, she pitied her. Mimi hated pity, but she loved free things, so she could suck it up. Allison Grey, heiress, taking extra measures to protect the poor and sick. Saintly.

She heard Roger sigh and dropped her arm down back to her side. "What's the deal, Benny!" He exclaimed, more frustrated than angry. "What game are you trying to play?"

"I want my rent, or I want you all out," Benny replied coolly. "This could be good for us, CyberArts. You can write your songs, Mark could make his films, and I can produce. Just like we always wanted."

"I don't want to be homeless." Roger squeezed Mimi's hand.

"Then pay your rent." Roger sighed again. He did that a lot.

"I'm broke—we're broke."

We?

"So get a job," Benny said, as if this were the simplest thing in the world. Mimi was getting tired of the back and forth, so she turned in the direction that Benny's voice was coming from and lashed her arm out, hitting him on the side.

"Whose gonna hire me, _pendejo_? I'm blind!"

She couldn't see the look he was giving her, but she knew he was. She kept her head facing straight ahead, suddenly feeling very tired.

"You're a special case," Benny answered after too long a silence. "But, Roger, you must understand—"

"What happened to Benny, what happened to his heart?"

Mimi heard Benny sigh. He was probably pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, too. She laughed a little at that.

"Oh!" Benny exclaimed rather suddenly, "you can continue to get away with not paying your rent under one condition."

"I knew it..." Roger said low, leaning into Mimi and whispering it against her hair.

"You and Mark need to stop Maureen's protest."

Roger scoffed, "Yeah, right. Why don't you just call the police?"

"My investors would prefer I'd handle it quietly," Benny replied, sounding exasperated.

"You can't quietly wipe out an entire tent city, then watch _It'_s_ a Wonderful Life_ on TV!" Roger snapped.

"Look, Roger, I don't know why you're so against it. You stop the protest, you get to continue living here. If not, you're packing." Mimi heard the sound of a car door open, then close again. She felt Roger pull her close as the car sped off, causing a gust of wind to blow past her.

"What a dick," she said, shaking her head slightly. Roger's laughter filled her ears, then, and she couldn't help but grin. His happiness was contagious.

"C'mon," he said, pulling her, "let's get you inside."

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A/N: chapter one down. I hope Roger and Benny weren't too ooc-Mimi might've been but she's blind so of course she's gonna be a little different.


End file.
